Sungmin huffed when he finished with his story. For once, he was grateful for his sunglasses that were always on his face as they hid the tears that lined his eyes. He had never told his story with so much detail before; he hadn't even had to tell his family as the nurses had informed them for him. 

 

It was relieving—like he was no longer trying to hide an elephant in the room. 

 

Kyuhyun stared at Sungmin for a moment, unsure of what he should say next. 

 

“I've never told anyone that...” Sungmin mumbled into the silence. 

 

“No one?” Kyuhyun asked. Sungmin shook his head.

 

Kyuhyun felt something warm flood his being at the thought that Sungmin had felt comfortable enough to tell him. But now, he was more curious...

 

“Can I ask you another question?” Kyuhyun asked. 

 

Sungmin nodded and hummed confidently.

 

“Can I see you without your sunglasses?” 

 

Sungmin visibly froze and all of the confidence that had covered his features melted away so immediately that Kyuhyun raised his eyebrows in surprise.

 

“...sorry...” Kyuhyun whispered, a bit unsure, once again, of what to do or say.

 

Sungmin gave no acknowledgment, instead remained frozen. He had never told anyone his story; however, he had no intentions of ever showing anyone his eyes.

 

He had been told by his parents that his eyes looked no different, like nothing had ever happened. But he hadn't trusted them. He had dragged his younger brother into the bathroom and forced him to tell him the truth. His brother had said his eyes “weren't bad, slightly different, but not bad.”

 

That had been enough for Sungmin to permanently hide his eyes from the world. 

 

He wasn't ready for this question from Kyuhyun.

 

“Sungmin?” Kyuhyun was beginning to dislike the silence.

 

“I'm sorry!” Sungmin rushed out as he made to quickly stand up; his flight instincts had kicked in. However, he regretted this immediately as his face brushed the floor after he tripped over furniture he was still not used to.

 

“Sungmin!” Kyuhyun shouted as he got to his feet to help the elder.

 

“No! I'm fine!” Sungmin shouted back as he felt hands grasp under his armpits. He stumbled again as he fought against the hands.

 

“Let me help you up! It's okay.” Kyuhyun said as he tried, again, successfully this time. Once Sungmin was on his feet; however, he quickly made his way to his bedroom, anywhere that could hide him from what he was just confronted with.

 

But he didn't get very far before a firm hand on his forearm stopped him in his tracks.

 

“Sungmin, I'm sorry. You don't have to show me, if you don't want to. Just don't...Don't run away from me...please.” Kyuhyun said as he loosened his grip on the elder.

 

“I don't...I've never shown anyone...” Sungmin mumbled. He stopped trying to run away, but remained facing away from Kyuhyun.

 

“We can just keep sitting here, then. I won't ask anything else, I promise.” Kyuhyun said as he reached out and tentatively poked Sungmin's hand. 

 

When Sungmin showed no reaction, Kyuhyun repeated, “I promise.” 

 

This time, Sungmin nodded slightly and muttered an “Okay...” 

 

They sat down again, each facing stiffly forward. 

 

“I've never shown anyone...” Sungmin repeated. He didn't know what he was saying, or what he was getting at with his words. Why would he continue on this topic if he made him want to run away? Kyuhyun had promised not to ask anymore questions; so he wasn't pushing or pressuring him. Why was he continuing to bring it up? He almost gagged at the thought that maybe, just maybe something in him wanted to show Kyuhyun.

 

Kyuhyun remained silent for a moment, waiting for Sungmin to continue. 

 

“My parents obviously saw, and I showed my brother, but...but I've never shown anyone else since.” Sungmin continued. He could have ended it with his first sentence. He could have brushed it off as an apology for why he freaked out. But as his subconscious continued to speak (because he didn't think he could consciously want to speak of this) he found it harder and harder to brush off what he was saying as mere apology. 

 

Kyuhyun remained silent again; however, he cautiously moved his hand so that only the side of his hand brushed Sungmin's just slightly—enough for the elder to know he was there and listening. 

 

Sungmin took a deep sigh to settle his nerves. He scrunched his eyebrows, why was he nervous? He wasn't going to do anything? He was just talking, right. Just talking. 

 

“I'm afraid they look horrible. My parents told me they look the same as before, but my brother said they looked different. I can't see them and I can't trust my family to tell me the truth about them. I'm so scared they are horrifying.”

 

At this point, Kyuhyun moved his hand to completely cover Sungmin's. Sungmin let his head droop slightly. 

 

“People are already cautious around me. If my eyes are hideous, and they see them, they would never come near me.” 

 

“I would.”  Kyuhyun blurted out.

 

“What?” 

 

“I would...still come near you, I mean.” Kyuhyun looked to his lap in embarrassment. 

 

“You're just being nice. If they are disgusting, I bet you wouldn't.”

 

“Try me.” Kyuhyun said sternly. It wasn't a real threat, but his words held a bite to them. 

 

Sungmin looked away from Kyuhyun. He could feel his eyes burning from the tears that seemingly came from nowhere. 

 

He took another deep sigh to settle his nerves. Again, why did he have to settle his nerves? He wasn't doing anything. Just talking. 

 

Kyuhyun's grip on his hand tightened slightly, but not uncomfortably. And it somehow spurred Sungmin actions. 

 

He didn't know what he was doing or why he was doing it. Kyuhyun was still nearly a stranger, why was he reaching up to remove his sunglasses for him, when he even refused to when he was in his home with his family? 

 

Sungmin reached up and gripped the side of his sunglasses tightly. But he froze up. 

 

“I can't do this...” Sungmin whispered. He wasn't sure if he was speaking to himself or Kyuhyun.

 

Kyuhyun remained silent, but squeezed Sungmin's hand again. It was a sign of encouragement, encouragement for whatever Sungmin chose to do. 

 

Sungmin repeated himself, but his hand remained on his sunglasses. 

 

Then there was a silence. It wasn't uncomfortable, it wasn't judgmental, it wasn't forceful—just silence.

 

With shaky fingers and unsteady breaths, Sungmin swiftly and clumsily removed his glasses, scrunching his eyes shut so tight that his whole face contorted. He heard Kyuhyun audibly inhale. 

 

“Please...Please don't...” Sungmin mumbled, eyes still scrunched closed so tight he was beginning to get a headache. 

 

“W-What?” Kyuhyun whispered, afraid speaking too loud would ruin everything. 

 

“Please don't leave me...” Sungmin huffed at how desperate he sounded. He was supposed to be independent! He didn't need anyone! But with just the few hours of company he had experienced, he realized that these self-set rules of his were forcing him to be alone. He didn't realize how lonely he was until he actually spent time with someone willing to be around him. “Because of how they look...whatever they look like. Please don't leave because of them.” 

 

“Sungmin. I would never leave because of something like that.” Kyuhyun said sternly, and a bit forcefully. He wanted Sungmin to be comfortable in believing this as the truth. 

 

Slowly, Sungmin released a breath; as he did so, he slowly relaxed his face. His face was relaxed, but his eyes remained closed. He knew there were no scars on the outside He had spent many nights simply feeling around his eyes to make sure there where none—it had been a head injury that had caused his blindness, not an eye injury. 

 

Sungmin froze, again. He had gotten this far, but he felt he could do nothing more. This was too new, too far out of his comfort zone. 

 

“Sungmin.” Kyuhyun whispered. It wasn't a plea, it didn't sound annoyed or frustrated or irritated at Sungmin's actions. It was simply the elder's name. Spoken with no intonation; said simply to remind Sungmin he wasn't alone. That he wasn't alone, anymore. 

 

In an instant, without thinking anymore, Sungmin opened his eyes. He didn't face Kyuhyun, but he opened his eyes and breathed, trying to get used to the feeling of being without sunglasses in someone else's presence. 

 

Kyuhyun remained silent this time. He squeezed Sungmin's hand as another reminder that he was here, but left it at that. Sungmin needed time, needed to go at his own speed and not feel rushed or pressured. Kyuhyun just wanted to remind him that he was with him. 

 

A few minuted passed in a peaceful silence, Sungmin still facing away from Kyuhyun, eyes opened and blinking innocently. Sungmin finally blinked for a bit longer than usual and took a deep breath. 

 

He turned slightly so that Kyuhyun could see his profile, and opened his eyes, again. 

 

“I...I know you can't see really, yet, but I just...” Sungmin said.

 

“It's okay. Take your time.” Kyuhyun said reassuringly. He could feel something bubbling in his stomach as he saw how close he was to seeing Sungmin's face in the whole, without sunglasses blocking half of him. 

 

There was another pause, just as comfortable as the last. But it was shorter than the last. Sungmin's confidence seemed to be growing. 

 

The elder quickly, and suddenly, turned to face Kyuhyun completely. However, he dropped his head to be facing Kyuhyun's lap. 

 

A moment went by like this as Kyuhyun held his breath. But as time continued to pass, he had a feeling Sungmin couldn't make the next move, that he wanted to, but physically couldn't. So Kyuhyun decided to help.

 

With as gentle a hand he could manage, Kyuhyun reached out and touched under Sungmin's chin. 

 

“Sungmin?” Kyuhyun asked for an acknowledgment. When he received a nod in return, he slowly began to lift Sungmin's chin up to face him dead-on. 

 

Sungmin snapped his eyes shut when he heard Kyuhyun gasp slightly once he knew he must have been looking at the younger. He pulled away a bit, reaching behind him for his glasses that he had dropped onto the couch. 

 

“Don't!” Kyuhyun nearly shouted. “Please open your eyes...” 

 

“Why? They're disgusting...I knew it.” Sungmin muttered, sounding disgusted, himself. 

 

“They are beautiful.” Kyuhyun said, sounding so sure of himself, so positive, that Sungmin halted in his actions. “Please open your eyes.”

 

Something, either in Kyuhyun's words or Sungmin's mind, urged the elder to open his eyes. 

 

“They are so beautiful...” Kyuhyun mumbled, more to the air than anyone particular. 

 

Sungmin remained silently dazed. He could feel Kyuhyun's fingers, which had never left his chin, begin to caress his jaw ever so slightly. 

 

“What...” Sungmin muttered, but held his tongue. 

 

“What is it?” Kyuhyun asked, still staring into the elder's unseeing eyes. 

 

“What...What do they look like?” Sungmin whispered. 

 

“They are light-” Kyuhyun began.

 

“They are gray and foggy aren't they?” Sungmin interrupted, looking away slightly. He knew how some blind people's eyes looked, gray, foggy and blank, like dead eyes. 

 

“No. Just lighter. You can tell you had brown eyes. Now...now they are almost golden.” Kyuhyun said almost in awe. 

 

“G-Golden?” Sungmin stuttered out in disbelief. 

 

“Not hazel or light brown, but golden. I've never seen anything like it, Sungmin.” Kyuhyun almost sounded as if he was in as much disbelief as Sungmin. “They are so beautiful, Sungmin.” 

 

This time, Sungmin pulled back, away from Kyuhyun's light grasp on his chin, as he felt tears once again line his eyes. This hadn't been how he expected this night to turn out, not one bit. 

 

“What's wrong? Did I say the wrong thing, again?” Kyuhyun asked quickly as he saw Sungmin wiping at his eyes. 

 

Sungmin shook his head, hiding. 

 

“I'm not lying, if that's what you are thinking. I would never lie to you, Sungmin.” Kyuhyun said in the same positive manner that had caused Sungmin to freeze before. 

 

Sungmin shook his head, again. 

 

“Will you look at me?” Kyuhyun asked when Sungmin refused to look back up at him. 

 

There was a seconds pause before Sungmin spoke, a light chuckle in his voice that seemed odd considering the situation.

 

“I can't really look at you, Kyuhyun.” 

 

Kyuhyun took a moment before he, too, chuckled slightly. It seemed to lift the tension completely off. 

 

“Can you turn towards me, then?” Kyuhyun asked incredulously. 

 

Sungmin shrugged his shoulders, joking gone from his posture. 

 

“You know, not just your eyes are beautiful.” Kyuhyun mumbled, a smirk pulling at his lips as he squeezed Sungmin's hand he had yet to let go of. 

 

“What does that mean?” Sungmin asked, turning his head slightly.

 

“I mean...I mean you are beautiful, Sungmin.” Kyuhyun said, the smirk suddenly dropping as he felt shyness pulled at his insides. 

 

Sungmin chuckled as he turned his head from Kyuhyun. 

 

“I'm serious. I don't lie, Sungmin.” Kyuhyun said sternly. 

 

“Aren't you supposed to call guys 'handsome'?” 

 

There was a pause before Kyuhyun let out a loud laugh, one that took away his shyness. 

 

“I guess you are right.” Kyuhyun said with a nod. Even Sungmin had a small smile on his face. “Can you turn towards me, now?”

 

Sungmin let out a sigh before moving in a swift motion to face Kyuhyun, again, head up and showing the confidence he was pretending to have at the moment. 

 

“But I think 'beautiful' fits you more. 'Handsome' isn't a strong enough word.” Kyuhyun said softly, peacefully as he returned his hand to Sungmin's face, this time to the side of elder's face, his thumb caressing the apple of his cheek. 

 

Sungmin remained silent, trying his hardest to push down the blush he felt rising to his ears. No one had ever spoken to him like this. He had never really given anyone the chance. But even before the accident, no one had said things like this to him. 

 

“You look so perfect...” Kyuhyun mumbled as his fingers wandered over Sungmin's face, gently touching above his eyes, before the elder closed them and he ran his fingertips along the soft, delicate skin of his eye lids. When Kyuhyun's fingers returned to Sungmin's cheeks, the elder had yet to open his eyes. 

 

“Open your eyes. Don't keep them closed.” Kyuhyun spoke up. 

 

Sungmin's eyes shot open. He was surprised at how quickly his nerves had left him. Well, his nerves of showing his eyes to someone; however, now, the way Kyuhyun was suddenly acting was making him nervous...but for different reasons. 

 

“I've never...” Sungmin blurted out, biting his tongue to hold back what he was about to confess. 

 

“What?” Kyuhyun asked gently, pausing in tucking a lock of hair behind Sungmin's ear. 

 

“Nothing.” Sungmin said quickly, too quickly.

 

“What is it, Sungmin?” Kyuhyun asked a bit more sternly. 

 

“It's nothing.” 

 

“Do you want me to stop?” Kyuhyun asked suddenly, pulling away. 

 

“No!” Sungmin said quickly, too quickly. He was giving his thoughts away too quickly. 

 

Kyuhyun chuckled slightly, but left his hand to play with Sungmin's hair. 

 

“What is it, Sungmin?” Kyuhyun repeated. 

 

“I...I don't want to tell you. I shouldn't have said anything. I'm speaking too fast for my mind to think.” Sungmin mumbled. 

 

“Why don't you just say it?” 

 

“I don't want to...” 

 

Kyuhyun hummed  in defeat. He stared at Sungmin. His golden eyes were dancing around slightly, unsure of where to settle, his skin glowed as the light from the ignored television bounced off of the contours. His lips hung slightly parted, as if constantly in slight awe of something. It was then Kyuhyun finally did something too fast for his own mind to think. 

 

Sungmin gasped and twitched in surprised as lips suddenly pressed softly against his own. His eyes remained wide as he felt Kyuhyun press closer. Hesitantly, as he was extremely unsure of himself, he began to move his lips lightly against Kyuhyun's. As soon as Sungmin reacted to the kiss, Kyuhyun pulled away quickly. 

 

“I'm sorry! I shouldn't have done that.” Kyuhyun said quickly, looking away from Sungmin, knowing the other was blind, but still fearing his gaze. 

 

“I've never been kissed...that's...that's what I was going to say before.” Sungmin said. 

 

“...I really shouldn't have done that. I'm so sorry.” Kyuhyun said, pulling his hand away from Sungmin's finally. 

 

“Why? Why not?” Sungmin asked loudly, angrily, his eyebrows scrunching together. 

 

“I...It was taking advantage of you, Sungmin. I don't...I didn't want it to be like that.” Kyuhyun said, getting to his feet. “I'm so sorry.” 

 

Sungmin quickly got to his feet, as well, as he felt Kyuhyun's body weight leave the couch.

 

“'Taking advantage of me!' I'm not a child!” Sungmin yelled. 

 

“I-I know you're not, Sungmin. I know. And I don't think you are. I just...Even independent adults can still get taken advantage of.” Kyuhyun tried to reason with the elder as he slowly backed away; however, Sungmin was taking quick steps towards him. 

 

“You didn't take advantage of me, god dammit!” Sungmin screamed, nearly stomping his foot in anger. 

 

“I'm sorry, Sungmin...” Kyuhyun mumbled. He knew Sungmin had been in an emotional state, he knew the other had been relying on him to be strong, trusting him to not do something horrible; however, he let his own selfish feelings get in the way. He never should have sprung something like that on Sungmin.

 

“Did you want to kiss me?” Sungmin shouted, reaching his hands out in front of him to feel where Kyuhyun was moving. As he spoke, he continued to back Kyuhyun up against the wall. “Did you want to kiss me?!” 

 

“...Y-Yes.” Kyuhyun stuttered as his back hit a wall. He tensed when he felt Sungmin's hands press against his chest as the elder reached out to find where he was. 

 

“Then kiss me.” Sungmin stated firmly, stepping close to Kyuhyun, hands pressing against the other's chest more firmly. 

 

“...Sungmin...” Kyuhyun mumbled.

 

“Don't baby me.” Sungmin said, his eyes wide as the stared, unseeing at Kyuhyun.

 

Kyuhyun swallowed. Sungmin had to use those words—Kyuhyun had promised him that he would never baby him; that had been what got Sungmin confident enough to actually speak with him. Who would he be if he began to baby him now?

 

Sungmin gasped, again, as warm lips suddenly pressed firmly against his.